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The Sage of Baltimore said that Puritans are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun — and that this must be stopped.

Substitute the word ‘Puritans’ with ‘casino opponents’ and you get the drift of those lining up to oppose downtown gambling for Toronto.

They fear a casino will somehow lead to the end of civilization as we know it in Canada’s biggest city.

Oh, and fun. Lots of fun. In metric and imperial measures.

Further, in their moral panic, anti-gambling crusaders see babies being eaten by legions of the newly poor, starving and destitute. All of them ruined by games of chance (when those same gamblers are not bayoneting pensioners on the street for their cash).

OK, they don’t say that. Casino catastrophists do say the introduction of a gambling complex is just one more step on the road to perdition.

We only have to look at the poor, desperate citizens of cities like Monte Carlo and Singapore, Sydney, London, Macau, Las Vegas and Kuala Lumpur for evidence of that.

All these cities host downtown casinos of various sizes and look where that has led. Terrible business, really.

Toronto’s very own Cassandra, in the unlikely form of Councillor Adam Vaughan, clearly had none of those cities in mind when he prophesized a casino in Toronto would “destroy” the city. Just like that. Amazing.

Oh, and there’s this. Did you know gambling is bad for your health? It’s a fact it will more than likely lighten your wallet, but Dr. David McKeown, the city’s chief medical officer, has released a study detailing all the health concerns wrought by a casino.

“Increases in problem gambling are the most important health impacts of a new casino in Toronto,” stated the public health report he released Tuesday. “With respect to all other potential impacts, the available evidence indicates that the introduction of a new casino is likely to have greater adverse health-related impacts than beneficial impacts.”

Health board member Gord Perks agrees and has his mind made up. The councillor is on the record saying “it is already clear to everybody in City Hall” that a Toronto casino is a “non-starter.”

Wow. Everybody in City Hall is in profound agreement. That just makes it official then, but it doesn’t answer the following question.

If people want to gamble their hard earned money, who are Adam Vaughan or Gord Perks to tell them not to? Or the city’s un-elected top health official, for that matter.

If we accept it is gamblers’ money — and theirs alone — then we should accept their right to do with it what they want.

As for the notion that somehow Torontonians must be protected from their darker natures by not having a casino, that is sheer nonsense.

Ontario already has gambling aplenty and profits hugely by its administration.

In fiscal year 2011 alone the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) provided more than $2 billion cash to the province. This was after earning the single highest consolidated gross gaming revenue in its history.

Since 1975, OLG lotteries, casinos, clots, and resort casinos have generated more than $34 billion for the benefit of the province.

If the famously inattentive politicians at Queen’s Park can realize the wider benefits of legalizing something and then distributing the wealth created by taxation, surely City Hall can, too.

A downtown casino would bring jobs and a new revenue stream for the city.

Further, the public likes the idea.

Ipsos Reid released a poll last month showing 52% of Torontonians would vote in favour of a downtown casino while 42% oppose it.

The same polling revealed virtually everyone in Toronto (87%) has heard about the casino possibility.

This compares with 70% who’ve heard of the light rail transit plan for Toronto, 49% who have heard of the scrapping of the land transfer tax in Toronto and 32% who’ve heard about lowering speed limits in the city.

On that evidence, the public is up-to-date and educated about gambling.

Which might be more than can be said for some of our elected representatives.

It's time for casino opponents to treat Torontonians like adults

The Sage of Baltimore said that Puritans are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun — and that this must be stopped.

Substitute the word ‘Puritans’ with ‘casino opponents’ and you get the drift of those lining up to oppose downtown gambling for Toronto.

They fear a casino will somehow lead to the end of civilization as we know it in Canada’s biggest city.

Oh, and fun. Lots of fun. In metric and imperial measures.

Further, in their moral panic, anti-gambling crusaders see babies being eaten by legions of the newly poor, starving and destitute. All of them ruined by games of chance (when those same gamblers are not bayoneting pensioners on the street for their cash).

OK, they don’t say that. Casino catastrophists do say the introduction of a gambling complex is just one more step on the road to perdition.